Fantasy Baseball: Monday News and Notes

Certainly do not recommend ever putting Daisuke Matsuzaka on the mound for your fantasy team, and that really does not change tonight. Matt Wieters is 6-for-11 against him while Brian Roberts is at .450 in 20 at-bats. Even Luke Scott is over .300 in 13 at-bats. Nick Markakis has some struggles, posting just five hits in 21 at-bats.

Both B.J. Upton and Johnny Damon are hitting below .200 against A.J. Burnett. Upton is only at .194 in 36 at-bats, striking out 15 times against him in the process. Ben Zobrist is 5-for-21, showing some struggles as well. Only Evan Longoria has truly succeeded against him, hitting .375 in 32 at-bats. The Rays are hitting just .241 against him in Burnett's last 12 starts against them.

Regardless of what happened over the weekend, be doubtful we see Jorge Posada tonight. He is only 1-for-18 against David Price while Andruw Jones is 3-for-10. Nick Swisher is the only other regular Yankee starter hitting better than .300 (at .357) against Price. Mark Teixeira is just 3-for-19 and Curtis Granderson only 2-for-16.

Some solid numbers for Oakland against Joel Pineiro. Mark Ellis, Coco Crisp, David DeJesus, and Hideki Matsui are all hitting better than .300 against him. Kurt Suzuki and Daric Barton are a combined 0-for-21 against the righty while Kevin Kouzmanoff is only 3-for-18.

Feast or famine for the Reds against Carlos Zambrano. Scott Rolen and Ramon Hernandez are both below .200 against Zambrano, and Rolen has over 40 at-bats against him. Brandon Phillips is only a .209 hitter with 11 strikeouts in 43 at-bats with Jay Bruce only 3-for-13. Edgar Renteria and Joey Votto are you best bets here at over .350. Zambrano is 6-1 in his last seven starts with a 2.09 ERA against the Reds.

Nothing pretty for the Mets against Josh Johnson. Jose Reyes is only a .160 hitter in 25 at-bats against him while David Wright is at .207 in 29 at-bats. Carlos Beltran is no better at .192 in 26 at-bats. Jason Bay has the best numbers with four hits in nine at-bats. Limited numbers on that stance though. Johnson is 6-1 in his last 10 starts against the Mets.

Todd Helton and Chris Iannetta are your best and only decent bets against Tim Lincecum. Iannetta is at .400 in 15 at-bats. Dexter Fowler is only at .125 in 16 at-bats while Troy Tulowitzki is just at .171 in 35 at-bats. Carlos Gonzalez himself is just a .250 hitter as well. Lincecum is just 7-5 in his last 14 starts against the Rockies.

Clayton Richard has lost six of his last seven decisions, but only pitched truly poorly in one of those losses. In five of those losses he has allowed two or fewer runs. Richard has only limited records against the Diamondbacks, but given his recent successes overall he is a solid spot start.

A few numbers for the Brewers against the Los Angeles starter Jon Garland. Rickie Weeks is a trouble spot, going just 1-for-10. Prince Fielder has two hits in nine at-bats. Yuniesky Betancourt has some good numbers here, going .391 in 23 at-bats. Craig Counsell is the only other decent mark, going 5-for-12.

Spot Starts: Richard, Tillman

Tuesday Notes

James Shields has won his last four decisions and has allowed just seven earned runs in his last 47.1 innings pitched over six starts. Curtis Granderson is only 3-for-31 against him and Mark Teixeira is no better at .182 in 33 at-bats. Nick Swisher is just a .217 hitter as well. Cano and Jeter are both better than .340 against Shields.

Only a couple decent numbers against Ubaldo Jimenez for the Giants. Freddy Sanchez is at .300 in 30 at-bats while Miguel Tejada is at .333 in 12. Aubrey Huff and Aaron Rowand are at .176 in 17 and 34 at-bats respectively. Andres Torres is just 1-for-13 while Buster Posey is only 2-for-13.

Some trouble spots for the Angels against Oakland starter Gio Gonzalez. Torii Hunter is just 2-for-14 while Bobby Abreu is only 1-for-14. At .357 in 14 at-bats, Alberto Callaspo is the best bet for success against Gonzalez.

Albert Pujols has hit .313 in 80 at-bats against Roy Oswalt, checking in with five home runs and 13 RBI in the process. Matt Holliday, Ryan Theriot, and Colby Rasmus should all be good to go here as well. Random note, this will be the first time that Lance Berkman will be facing his old teammate. Found it interesting more than anything.

Nothing but good numbers to report for the Mets against Ricky Nolasco. Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Dan Murphy are all hitting better than .333 against him. Even Jason Bay finds himself hitting .273 against the Florida starter. All players mentioned above have at least 17 at-bats with Beltran, Wright, and Reyes having more than 30.